WJKM-TV
WJKM-TV, virtual channel 7 (digital UHF channel 19), is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Grassyville, Minecraftia. It is owned by The Matthews Company, and is sister to radio stations WXB radio (700 AM and 99.9 FM), WGVM radio (1000 AM and 93.9 FM), and WGPN (1090 AM). The six stations share studios at the Matthews Broadcasting Center in Grassyville. History As a CBS affiliate The station first signed on the air in March 31, 1955 as WXB-TV. It was founded by the Williams family's ''The Grassyville Star'' newspaper company, with Robert Williams as the leader. Alongside the newspaper and the television station, the family also owned WXB radio (700 AM and 99.9 FM). WXB-TV was Grassyville's first television station, having affiliations with the Big Three television networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC), but it was primarily a CBS affiliate. The station did not take a secondary affiliation with the DuMont Television Network, as the network closed production operations, combined with the fact that stations in Gameria City, then as now, had excellent reception in Grassyville; the three network affiliates in Gameria City (future sister station WGAM-TV, WOPS-TV, and WGMR-TV) shared secondary affiliations with DuMont. It lost NBC to WVLL (channel 10) signed-on, and ABC to WVLL when WGVM-TV (channel 3, later WGRV-TV, reverted in 1997; now a CBS owned-and-operated station) signed-on; WVLL has since returned to NBC in 1979. In 1975, following the death of Robert Williams, the family decided to close down their media empire. They sold the Star and its assets to motion picture executive and movie producer John K. Matthews, then-owner of Everest Pictures, in 1976. As a result, the newspaper lost grandfathered protection from the Federal Communications Commission. To comply with the regulation, along with the concentration on common ownership of radio and television stations, Matthews sold WXB radio to Infinity Broadcasting Corporation. To comply with a now-repealed FCC rule that forbade TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different ownership from sharing the same callsigns, the station subsequently changed its call letters to WJKM-TV, named in his honor. A year later, he founded The Matthews Company to restructure his assets separate from Everest; in 1985, he later sold Everest to Philippines-based partner VGC, and the Star to the Gannett Company. Switch to ABC Although WJKM had been one of CBS' stronger affiliates, the station would end up disaffiliating from the network when it acquired WGRV-TV as part of its purchase of then-owner Midwest Radio and Television. ABC first sought out former affiliate WVLL, but it was in the middle of its affiliation agreement with NBC, hence, ABC ultimately affiliated with WJKM. The affiliation switch took place at the station's 37th anniversary on March 31, 1992, which saw CBS move to WGRV from channel 7 and ABC to WJKM from channel 3. In 2017, following the pending merger of CBS Radio with Entercom, the company sold WXB-AM-FM, WGVM-AM-FM, as well as WGPN to The Matthews Company. The sale reunited WJKM-TV with its former radio sisters, and became sisters with channel 3's former radio sisters for the first time. Even with the reunification of ownership between WXB radio and WJKM, TMC opted not to restore the television station to its former WXB-TV call letters. Sale to GamerCraft In 2019, the Matthews family decided to sell their empire. They agreed to merge TMC with GamerCraft, a fellow broadcasting firm owned by John K. Matthews' nephew Red Gordonia. On February 12, 2020, shareholders of both companies approved the merger. It is expected to be finalized between February 24 to the station's 65th anniversary on March 31, 2020, in which if it happens, it will gain sister stations in Minecraftia, specifically making a duopoly in Gameria City between TMC-owned WGNB-TV and GamerCraft-owned WNT-TV, as well as WNT-AM-FM. Digital television Analog-to-digital conversion In 2003, WJKM and sister station WGNB-TV in Gameria City launched their digital signals. On February 17, 2009, the original mandated deadline for full-power stations to transition to digital, WJKM signed off its analog signal on VHF channel 7. It also relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 59, which were one of the high-band channels (52-69) removed by the FCC from broadcast use, to UHF channel 44 for post-transition operations, but used its virtual PSIP channel number as its former analog VHF channel 7.